Zurich

I should really have my diary here to remind me of Zurich as it was now so long ago (nearly two weeks) that it is not so fresh as my more recent experiences. Anyway, I am in an internet cafe and must make use of the time I have, so here goes.

We left Ingolstadt early in the morning, dragging Imke and Martin out of bed at 5 am to get us to the train station on time. We took the train into Zurich, arriving late-morning. We found our hostel without difficulty and set out to explore the city. First, we sat down to enjoy a lunch of bread and cheese fondue near our hostel. There was a big parade happening in Zurich that day, an energy festival that we happened to coincide with. There were flyers all over the sidewalks, and people were in high spirits everywhere we went. There were also lots of unusually dressed people for the freak show happening that afternoon. We crossed the river and headed back toward the older section of town. We saw the Grossmunster, where Ulrich Zwingli began preaching in 1519, and located a store that Karen´s book had mentioned for its tiny little ¨burgers¨--little candies in the shape of a burger. It was closed, but we got a few photos. Then it started raining. We headed back towards the train station, where we visited the Swiss National Museum, and then decided to go up the mountain on a small train. It was only a 20 minute ride and would have been even more beautiful if it hadn´t been overshadowed by pouring rain. Karen walked around outside snapping shots in the rain like a trooper, while I got a few shots and then headed into shelter indoors to wait out the rain at the only restaurant on the mountain.

On the way back home, we saw hordes of young people huddled in clusters on the floor of the train station, sheltering from the rain. The station was packed! Apparently they didn´t have much in the way of indoor venues for people to stay in for this event. In spite of the rain, it was still quite noisy below our window. I used the earplugs the hostel gave me and slept through it all quite fine.